A public-private consortium backed by the U.S. DoE is developing a new nuclear fuel â a mix of thorium and uranium â that looks like a major advance on the fuels currently in use, says Jim Conca. Called âAdvanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Lifeâ (ANEEL), it has a very high fuel burn-up rate (55,000 MWd/T) compared to the usual uranium (7,000 MWd/T). That high burn-up reduces the waste by over 80%. Less spent fuel means less refuelling, less … [Read more...]
The Energy Charter Treaty needs updating, but remains a valuable tool for the transition
Last Thursday we published this critique of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). Created in the 1990s, the ECT was designed to protect cross-border energy investments from political risk. Critics now say it is being used to protect fossil fuel investments in a world committed to phasing them out. Today, Andrei Belyi of energy consulting firm Balesene OU and Adjunct Professor in Energy Law and Policy at the University of Eastern Finland, who was named … [Read more...]
BP Outlook 2020: âpeak oilâ has already happened
BPâs latest Outlook predicts â for the first time - that oil saw its peak in 2019. In each of BPâs Outlooks, published annually since 2011, they have revised their predictions for the global energy landscape to 2050 as new data comes in. The growth of clean energy and the changing shape of climate policies have seen each successive forecast increase the share of renewables at the expense of fossil fuels. This year even gas has seen its prospects … [Read more...]
Global Coal Database: Covid lockdown may accelerate phase-out
E3G has created a database to track coalâs phase-out across the globe. Though much has been achieved, dating back to 2010, itâs still not on target. Chris Littlecott and Leo Roberts at E3G look at the data from different territories. The OECD and EU28 have made very good progress: 71% of these countries are pursuing coal phase-out, with 58% on track to be coal free by 2030. The article points at successes in the US, the UK, Spain and Germany … [Read more...]
Floating Solar: can it help ASEAN reverse coalâs continued rise?
Floating solar farms may be gaining traction in Asia. Capacity is still small: by 2019 the big players Japan and China had a combined floating photovoltaic (FPV) installed capacity of 1.3GW. But the ASEAN countries that had virtually nothing before 2019 now have over 51MW and have planned in another 858MW. A report by Sara Jane Ahmed and Elrika Hamdi at IEEFA explains why FPV is looking better and cheaper at balancing out peaks and troughs than … [Read more...]
Three U.S. utilities to skip the gas âbridgeâ, move straight from coal to renewables
At the end of June, utilities in three U.S. states declared they are closing down coal plants and moving straight to renewables, without building new gas plants as a âbridgeâ fuel. For example, to replace lost coal capacity, Tucson Electric Power in Arizona will add 2,457MW of new wind and solar generation, backed up with 1,400MW of battery storage. Similar commitments are being made by other utilities in Colorado and Florida. New Mexico is … [Read more...]
BPâs world energy review: 2019 saw clean electricity match coal
Simon Evans at Carbon Brief summarises BPâs 69th edition of its influential annual statistical review of world energy, looking at 2019. Overall, total energy demand rose, though slower than usual. Renewables were the largest source of new energy, but were closely followed by oil and gas. Coal use dropped again, the fourth drop in six years, thanks to historic declines in the EU and the US. But continued growth in SE Asia, China and India leaves … [Read more...]
The PAC Scenario: net-zero by 2040 to meet Europeâs Paris goals
The EU is not on track to meet its Paris Agreement obligations on emissions and limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5°C. CAN Europe and the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) present their Paris Agreement Compatible (PAC) scenario, designed to do just that. Itâs been created through the careful analysis of contributions from more than 150 stakeholders including NGOs, scientists, industry and grid operators. Jörg MĂŒhlenhoff at CAN Europe … [Read more...]
Waste Heat Recovery can help replace Polandâs District Heating coal
Three quarters of all district heating in Poland comes from burning coal. So the country is looking for ways to reduce this. Itâs why subsidies are provided for combined heat and power (CHP) plants that burn either coal, gas or biomass, which all have lower emissions. But a report by IEEFA authored by Gerard Wynn, Arjun Flora and Paolo Coghe says that waste heat recovery (WHR) â currently unsubsidised â is both emissions free and can be … [Read more...]
Imported U.S. LNG: whatâs its true climate footprint?
Importing LNG from the U.S., to replace coal, makes sense for Europe only if the total emissions including those throughout the chain of production are lower than the alternatives. Julian Wettengel at CLEW looks at reports that say the total methane emissions from the worldâs largest oil and gas field â the Permian Basin in West Texas â are particularly high and may push it over that threshold. Flaring, venting and leakage are the main cause. … [Read more...]
Developing nations: Efficiency is cheaper than Coal in Indonesia
Developing economies face a particularly big challenge in reducing emissions. Their economies are growing rapidly, industrialising and urbanising. Their populations surely deserve the same rewards of wealth that the rich countries â the historical and per capita big emitters - have experienced. Can they get there without all the emissions? Indonesia believes so, committing itself to 29% unconditional emissions reductions by 2030. Virginie … [Read more...]
Negative electricity prices: lockdown’s demand slump exposes inflexibility of German power
The lockdown has unexpectedly allowed us to model certain aspects of the energy sectorâs possible future. One is the oversupply of variable renewables into the grid. In Germany, a slump in demand plus an exceptionally sunny and windy few months sent wholesale electricity prices negative and to record lows. Fossil generators calculated that paying buyers to take electricity was cheaper than performing a shut-down re-start sequence, so they did … [Read more...]
IEA projections 2020: energy demand plunges but Renewables still grow at Gas, Coalâs expense
The IEA has made its projections for the impact of the pandemic lockdown on energy demand in 2020 (they say itâs too early for them to assess anything more long term), and its implications for the different generation types. This article summarises their special Global Energy Review 2020, published at the end of last week. It assumes that lockdowns are eased this year and growth gradually returns. With that, global energy demand will fall 6% in … [Read more...]
Coal exit saves money when public health, land degradation costs added – analysis
Coal is cheap. In countries historically reliant on it, as well as emerging economies still building plants, switching to cleaner energy just doesnât seem to add up. Thatâs when youâre only looking at your national energy system costs. But the externality costs of air pollution, public health and a degraded local environment are rarely factored in to the equation. When they are, explains Sebastian Rauner writing for Carbon Brief, abandoning coal … [Read more...]
Will China build more Coal to stimulate the economy?
Could China ramp up coal generation â of the order of hundreds of GW by 2030 - as part of its efforts to stimulate its economy and recover from the coronavirus slump? The thinking is that building a coal plant converts faster into economic growth than the equivalent spent on renewables. In the previous decade, building coal plants was an effective part of Chinaâs economic growth plan that secured its place as the worldâs second largest economy. … [Read more...]
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